epilogue
One year passed since the games. The whole world didn't stop, when almost five hundred people went missing in a strange way. The life was going, people were living like earlier, because it didn't make any changes in their lives. No one discovered a big arena on the small Island. No one could bring missing people to their families.
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Down the street was walking the man, with his hair dyed on bright, cherry red color. This man was Seong Gihun. The man who won the games last year as player number 456.
People were turning back to look at him, as he passed them on the street, surprised by his look. He was wearing a black suit, and in his hand he was holding a small suitcase.
He stopped in front one of the buildings, and looked at the paper he held in hand. Then he looked again at the building to check if it's correct address. It was.
Gihun walked inside, heading to the second floor. On walls, everywhere, were hanging posters with some girl's face on it. The man felt his stomach twist. He slowly took a step forward, and took one of the posters in his hands.
From the picture was smiling to him, blue haired girl. On her face there wasn't any scars, blood or any signs of exhaust. It wasn't so hard for him to recognise Wang Hayoon, the sweet girl from the games, player number 164.
At the top of the poster, there was a big caption "MISSING". Gihun started to reading the description placed next to the picture. Beside the all important information about the girl, there was a short note.
"The worried family is asking for help in finding the missing girl. If you have any information, please contact with this number or police. Help us find Hayoon, and bring her back to her son and mother"
Gihun put the poster in his suitcase, and continued his way to apartment number 32. He knocked on the door, and waited a dozen seconds for someone to open them.
The person who stood up in the door, was a young woman. Gihun didn't expect to see her, and so did she, looking at him surprised. He didn't say anything for a while, making the woman furrowed.
"Can I help you?" she asked him
"Oh..." Gihun scratched his neck nervously, "I was given information that here lives Wang Miyoung, am I correct?"
"Oh ms. Wang, yes, yes," the girl opened the door more widely, "Are you family?"
She gave him a sign with hand that he can walk in.
"I am her daughter's friend"
The woman's face dropped. She was thinking about something for a while, before nodding her head.
"Alright, I see. I don't know if you sir were informed, but ms. Wang is in very bad health condition. I'm her nurse," she said, and Gihun nodded his head, "The cancer is winning, and she has only a few days left. You can say goodbye or whatever you want. Also, her memory is not that good, so she can be confused sometimes and don't understand things you say to her. So please be patient"
Gihun nodded his head again. The nurse took him to one of the room, but the doors were closed. Then the man noticed something.
"I'm sorry," nurse hold her hand on the handle, "but where is Jihoon?"
The woman bit her lip.
"He had to be put in an orphanage, because there wasn't anyone to take care of him, ms. Wang isn't able, of course" she explained, "I'm here only since Monday, just to make her last days easier"
Gihun nodded his head, and the nurse let him in the room.
"I'm sorry," he said to the nurse, before walking in, "But if there's any chance that you could write me a name of this orphanage?"
The young woman nodded her head with a soft smile, and walked away. On her way, she took a pencil and small notebook.
The woman who was laying on the bed had her eyes close. She opened them as soon as she heard someone walking in.
"Hello ms. Wang," Gihun put a small chair aside the bed. The woman looked half dead, with her empty eyes, "You don't know me, but I am Hayoon's friends"
"Hayoon?" repeated confused woman
"Yes, your daughter" said Gihun unsure
"Oh, yes...." the elder woman closed her eyes, and opened them again, looking at the ceiling, "My beautiful, sweet Hayoon. My beautiful daughter. You know she left me?"
Gihun felt a pinch in his heart, "That's why I wanted to meet with you, ma'am. I know it must be hard for you, but...."
"Is she okay?" interrupted him Wang, twisting her head to the man, "That's all I care about. I know her life was hard, having a small kid, sick mother, and money problems aren't helping. If I were her, I would probably run away too. I just want to know if my baby is okay"
She talked for a long time, her voice was raspy, and she coughed loudly. She grimaced, because all of this caused a lot of pain.
"Yes," said Gihun smiling softly, "She is okay"
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Kids were playing at the playground, beside the building, you could hear their happy screams from kilometers. All of them ran to the woman who brought ice creams in the bag.
Gihun stopped before walking to the building, looking at one paper where he had written the name of this orphanage. Then he looked at another paper he had, and it was the same name. He took a step inside the building, looking for someone. On the walls there were hang a lot of pictures of children that were looking for a home.
Finally, in the corridor appeared a middle-age woman, holding in her arms a plushy dog.
"Excuse me," the woman stopped walking and turned around to Gihun, "I was speaking with ms. Um, the other day, and..."
"Oh yes, it's me" ms. Um held out her hand, and the man shook it politely, "Are you Seong Gihun?"
The man nodded his head, "Yes. We were talking about two boys that are in here..."
"Of course," ms. Um interrupted him again, "Yes, it's great that you want to help them, sir. Follow me"
The woman started walking somewhere, very quickly, and Gihun followed her. They were passing by classrooms, room where the kids could play or just their rooms.
"Cheol is now having a math lesson, so I thought that you could talk to Jihoon first," said ms. Um, twisting her head to Gihun, who nodded his head, "He's a really quiet kid tho. It's hard for him to associate with the situation he's in"
"I understand"
"He should be in his room. And if the boys gonna agree, you can sir take them even today," said ms. Um, "That's here"
They stopped in front of one of the doors. Gihun looked at them, and his face dropped when she saw a number on it. 164.
"Is everything okay?" asked confused ms. Um looking at the man, who looked like he saw a ghost
"This number...."
"Oh yes...." the woman laughed. Gihun looked at her surprised, "Because of all the renovations in the orphanage, they made mistake, and on the first floor rooms have number from 150 to 170. Then next floor is from 171 to 200. We all get use to it, so we don't need to change it. I know it can be a bit confusing," she chuckled again
She opened the door of the room. Inside on the floor was sitting six year old boy, and another one was reading a book on his bed, he looked much older than the other one.
"Sunho, can you go with me for second?" asked him ms. Um. The boy nodded his head and stood up from the bed, and the woman twisted her head to Gihun, "Mr. Seong, you can have how much time you want, but Cheol ends his classes in fifteen minutes"
Gihun nodded his head, "Alright, thank you"
Ms. Um smiled, and left the room with Sunho. Gihun stood up for a while in one place, before he walked to the sitting boy, who didn't even raised head to look at him. The man sat on the floor, watching the boy playing with the blue car.
"Hello," the boy still played with the toy, "You are Jihoon, am I right?"
He nodded his head, but he still didn't bother to look at him. Gihun waited a dozen seconds, before continuing.
"I'm your mom's friend," the boy stopped riding the toy car, "My name is Gihun"
Jihoon raised his head to look at the man. He blinked his eyes slowly.
"You know my mommy?" he asked unsure, so the man nodded his head, "Where is she?"
Gihun gulped. Answering to that question was hard. "She is far away. She wanted me to apologise to you for...."
"She said she'll come back after a few days," interrupted him Jihoon. His eyes were shining from tears, "She wasn't even on my birthday, no one was. Why she lied? Did she stop loving me?"
One tear rolled down his cheek.
"Of course not, your mom loves you the most in the world"
"So why she left me? I have no friends here"
Gihun clenched his lips, trying to find the best words to explain this situation.
"Your mom had to leave, it wasn't her fault. She told me to say to you how sorry she is, and how much she loves you"
Jihoon wiped his cheek with the small hand, and started to playing with the toy car again. Gihun looked around the room.
It was very cozy, with two bunk beds and two bedside cabinets. On one of them was laying a picture. Gihun took it to the hands. As he expected, it was a photo of Hayoon and Jihoon. She was hugging him from behind with one hand, and with another she was pointing two fingers above the boy's head, like the rabbit ears. Jihoon had his tongue out, waving to the camera.
"I like your hair, sir" murmured the boy, and looked at Gihun for a second with the corner of his eye
"You do?" he smiled and touched his hair, putting down the picture, "Don't you think it's too red?"
The boy shook his head, "I think colorful hair are cool. My mom has blue hair, I like them"
Gihun chuckled, "Yes, your mom has great hair"
"She told me that, when I'm gonna be older, I can have green hair," he said, pointing at his head, "And she will dye her hair green too, for me"
Gihun smiled sadly, "That's very nice of her"
Jihoon nodded his head. He continued playing with his car.
"Are you here to take me home?" said the boy
"In some way, yes"
"But my grandma is sick," Jihoon put the car on the floor
"That's true," said Gihun, "But would you like, if another person would take care of you and another boy?"
The boy looked at him surprised, "Another boy?"
"Yes. His name is Cheol, and he is also in here," explained to him Gihun, "He's ten"
"It means that I would have a brother?" asked excited boy
"Yes," chuckled Gihun amused
"That's cool, I always wanted a brother," the boy started to playing with his car, but he wasn't excited like a second ago
He focused on the blue car, totally forgetting about Gihun. The man watched him for a few seconds, but he couldn't think of any other thing to talk about with the boy.
Someone knocked on the door, and ms. Um walked in with a smile.
"Mr. Seong, Cheol is free if you want to talk with him now"
"Of course, thank you" the man stood up from the floor. He walked to the doors, turning around to the boy, who still played with his car, "See you later Jihoon"
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The two boys stood in front of Gihun, who placed his hands, one hand on the boy's shoulder, the other on the other. Jihoon was wearing a small backpack with a panda drawn on it. The boys looked with interest at the older woman, who smiled at them the whole time. Mrs. Cho leaned slightly over them.
"Which one of you is Cheol and which is Jihoon?" she asked them calmly
The younger boy looked at the other, waiting for him to respond.
"I'm Cheol, and this is Jihoon," Cheol pointed at him
Jihoon raised his hand a little, and waved.
"Oh, such manly names," ms. Cho stroked his cheek, and Cheol's hair, "You both look so strong and tough"
Jihoon took a step back a little. Ms. Cho looked at him surprised.
"He's a little shy," said Gihun
"Oh, alright, I'm sorry," she said to the boy, chuckling nervously
"Take care of them, please," Gihun handed the woman a big, yellow suitcase
"Of course," ms. Cho took a suitcase, "It'll be nice to have a little extra company around. Don't worry about me, have a good trip"
"Thank you"
Gihun nodded his head to the woman. He turned around and walked away. Jihoon twisted his head to look at the man, but Cheol just looked at the ground. They were left with the elder woman.
"Have you eaten dinner, boys?" she asked them, smiling softly. Cheol shook his head, "Come on then, here"
She took Jihoon's hand and settled the boys on the side, while taking two fish buns from her booth. They took them from her gratefully.
"From now, I'm gonna take care of you, sweethearts," said ms. Cho, "I know it's gonna be hard for you to adapt in this new situation, but trust me, it's going to be better. Okay? You boys, are now family, and you can treat me like one too"
The woman smiled to them. Cheol nodded his head, and he embraced Jihoon with his arm. The younger boy bite his bun fish, and also nodded his head.
Maybe he lost his family.
But he also got a new one.
THE END
a/n
Okay guys...
It's officially end of this book. While I was rewatching the last episode, I got so sad again, when I started thinking about how the things ended. And I literally feel so bad for Jihoon, even tho he's fictional 😭
I hope this epilogue is written the way you like guys, even tho each "scene" it's very short. Thank you all so much for everything. It was pleasure to read all of your comments <3
~ Hayden